Big Sister
by TamarinaDC
Summary: A companion piece to "Woman's Knowledge"- Uhura and Spock announce their marriage plans to Spock's foster siblings. T for adult themes related to arranged marriages, but no sex or violence


Big Sister

**STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**: If I owned Star Trek, I'd be making these into movies myself instead of having to imagine stuff until the next one comes out!

Thanks to everyone who has read and enjoyed my stores so far. This one, which isn't an "M" takes place right after "Woman's Knowledge"- I'm working my way up to the bonding ceremony! I also have a couple prequels that I need to type up- someday, I'll rearrange them and put them in chronological order.

Much love to my beta, broadwaybound7643.

**

Spock and Uhura entered Sarek and T'Pyra's home. Uhura still found it strange that in a home with six children 18 and under, there was so little noise; but Vulcan children were accustomed to educating and amusing themselves quietly. The two youngest, T'Lyr and Samak (4 and 6 respectively) were already asleep when they came in; the others, T'Myrin and T'Pres (10 and 14) were practicing a lyre duet in one room, and the oldest two, Sarrik and Skarret (16 and 18) were reviewing some lessons with Sarek.

Spock always had an ambivalent reaction to seeing his father with his foster siblings. In one way, he remembered that his father had overseen his lessons in a similar fashion, and had fond recollections of those times; on the other hand, he did not remember his father ever expending the energy with him that he did with the younger children. However, he had to take into account the change of circumstances; when Spock was young, his father had spent considerable time performing his ambassadorial duties. Now, he was home much more often, and although he was still the senior ambassador, there were other junior ambassadors who now shouldered much of the load. Also, his foster siblings simply needed their parents more than he did- they were all dealing with the loss of their parents and siblings, and were much less able to cope than the adults. A part of Spock wished that Sarek would have spent as much time with him as he now did with these other children- but then again, these children did not have Amanda. The members of the High Council who had referred to his mother as a "disadvantage" literally did not know what they were talking about, nor did they realize just how much of a role she had played in making him the man he was. T'Pyra was a fine choice of a mate for his father and a kind stepmother to Spock; she was also a very good mother , taking on the responsibility of six unrelated children from all over Vulcan and making a family of them. Still, she was no Amanda.

Sarek crossed the room to greet his son. "All is well, then, my son?"

Spock greeted his father in reply. "Yes, Father, all is well. If it is acceptable to T'Pau, we would like to hold the ceremony tomorrow."

T'Pyra came into the front room from checking on the two sleeping children, who often had nightmares. " I am glad to hear it. Shall we tell the children?"

"Tell us what, Mother?" Sarrik asked.

"Go get the girls from the other room- your eldest brother has an announcement." He nodded, and returned quickly with the two girls. "We will tell the youngest ones in the morning."

"Tell us what. Mother?" Everyone turned around and saw the faces of the two youngest children in the hallway. They had apparently sensed that something was afoot, and had gotten out of bed. Uhura smiled, comforted at least by the fact that Vulcan children hated bedtime as much as their human counterparts.

T'Pyra also gave the Vulcan equivalent of an exasperated mother's shrug. "You two are supposed to be in bed- but we will over look this just this once, as it is a special occasion."

Sarek agreed. "Children, your eldest brother will bond with Nyota tomorrow."

The children looked at the couple with curious eyes. They had all spoken to Nyota over subspace communications, and she sent them birthday gifts (even though Spock told her that the custom was not practiced on Vulcan-"They're kids and I'm human- it's what we do"), but they had only met her in person this trip. They had known she was their brother's colleague on the Enterprise, but they had not realized that she was his potential mate.

Still, they adjusted to this information quickly. Little Samak thought for a moment, and then asked his father, "Then should we greet our new eldest sister?" As a child who had found himself with a little sister, two new older sisters and two older brothers, plus Spock, he was very used to having new siblings appear.

Sarek nodded, and Uhura could see a very slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, so very much like Spock. "That would be appropriate."

Samak stood up with all the dignity of a 6-year old in pajamas, spread his fingers in the traditional salute, and said, "Greetings, elder sister Nyota."

Uhura did all she could to keep from laughing, and returned his salute. "Greetings, younger brother Samak. Live long and prosper."

The other children also saluted their new sister, although the older ones were more apprehensive. They appeared to have internalized more of the ideas regarding the inferiority of humans, and appeared reluctant to welcome one into their family.

Then, Uhura had a brainstorm. "Tomorrow, may I take a holo of all of you to send to my family back on Earth? I'm sure they would be happy to see their new relatives on Vulcan. I have some of my family, if you would like to see them."

This offer seemed to interest the children, and soon Uhura had pulled out holoprojections of her parents, her brothers and sisters, and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Skarret, the oldest, spent considerable time examining one of the holos of her young cousin Erinda. "She looks very much like you, eldest sister. What is she studying in school?"

"The last time I spoke to her mother, she mentioned that Rin- that's what the family calls her- was thinking about veterinary studies. She's loved animals ever since she was a little girl, and several of the wildlife parks in Africa need good veterinarians to aid in the restoration of some of the populations of larger African mammals like giraffes and elephants, as well as some of the smaller animals whose habitats have been damaged." She had some holos of African animals as well, which fascinated the younger two children- neither Vulcan nor New Vulcan had any large animals like elephants.

T'Pyra, who had been indulgent up to this point, finally decided that the younger children really did need to go to bed. But the group as a whole all agreed that tomorrow morning, they would pose for a holocube to send to Uhura's family back on Earth.

Little T'Lyr spoke, and said something that none of the others had said, or had been able to say. "We'll make a holocube of us so that that way if anything happens, you can remember us. I wish I had a holocube of my mama and papa." Here, she used the Vulcan terms of endearment for parents, rather than the more formal term she used for Sarek and T'Pyra.

Uhura's heart broke for the little girl, and although she was Vulcan, she knelt down and spread her arms toward her. "Come here, little sister. Let me give you a hug." T'Lyr hesitated for a moment, then ran over to Uhura and threw her arms around her. As she was only four, she was much less reserved than the older children, and her emotions were closer to the surface. Under other circumstances, the other members of the family might have been embarrassed with this display of emotion; but in this case, no one said anything.

Nyota gave the little girl one last squeeze and said, "You listen to Mother- it's time for you to go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning." The little girl toddled down the hallway towards her room.

The older girls and Sarrik said their good nights and repeated their congratulations. Sarek and Spock disappeared to some other room in the house to discuss planning tomorrow's event, and T'Pyra had some work of her own to attend to (she was, by training, an architect) after she got the two littlest children settled. That left Nyota with Skarret, who seemed as if he wanted to speak to her about something.

"Skarret, did you have a question for me?" She couldn't imagine what he might have to ask her about.

"Yes,sister," he said, hesitantly. "Do you think that it might be acceptable to...contact your cousin Erinda? Do you feel she might be amenable to exchanging messages?"I am interested in studying xenobiology, and if she is studying to become a veterinarian, we may have interests in common. An exchange of messages might prove beneficial to both our educations."

Uhura looked up at him, completely surprised. "I'm not sure, Skarret- but we could ask her personally. It's early on Earth- would you like to speak to her and ask her yourself?" He nodded, but Nyota could see that he was excited about the prospect.

Nyota did some manipulation of the communications equipment in the family room, and within a few minutes, her Aunt Malika's face appeared on the screen.

"Nyo! It's been ages! How are you doing? Your mom tells me congratulations are in order as well."

"Thanks, Auntie- I'm fine, thanks. And yes, next time you talk to me I'll be a respectable married lady. But I have a question- is Rin around? I'd like to speak to her for a minute, if I can."

"Sure, Nyo- she's here. Let me get her for you." She disappeared from the screen a moment, and then, Erinda's face appeared. She did look very much like her cousin, although her skin tone was different because her father, Nyota's uncle Li-Tzu, was Chinese.

"Nyo! What's going on? Mom said you're getting married to a Vulcan- that is so cool!"

"Thanks Rin- I'll bring Spock home next time we're planetside. But I have someone here who is interested in your veterinary studies- someone studying to be a xenobiologist." She motioned for Skarret to come closer to the monitor. "Erinda Wong- this is Spock's foster brother Skarret."

Skarret addressed the monitor and spoke in Federation Standard. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Wong. Your cousin has told me about you."

Rin was as resilient as her cousin Nyo, and adjusted quickly to the surprise of her cousin introducing her to a Vulcan young man- and a pretty darn cute one, at that. Although many Vulcans had dark hair and eyes, Skarret's family came from Doishun province, an area whose residents were known for their red hair. He also had bright blue eyes, and a tall, slim physique.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I'm sorry I don't speak Vulcan like Nyo does." She lowered her eyes somewhat shyly, a look that Nyota herself recognized as one she herself had used when flirting.

"As we both speak acceptable Federation Standard, there does not appear to be a significant barrier to our communication." He paused, and then added, "I would be very interested in communicating with you to learn more about your veterinary studies- and perhaps learning more about your other interests as well."

"I would love to exchange messages and calls with you, Skarret. It's always a pleasure to meet new members of the family. Nyo, will you make sure Skarret has all the contact information he needs, and that I have all of his?" Nyota assured her she would, and then, after all parties involved had said their goodbyes, terminated the connection.

"Thank you for introducing me to your cousin, sister. She appears to be everything you described."

Nyota realized, probably more slowly than she should have, that Skarret was actually casting his net for a mate. And she shouldn't have been surprised- Skarret was one of a number of young males who would have to wait years for a Vulcan bondmate. Older. more established males would be able to offer any single females more than he would for several years, and even if he was to be bonded to a young girl, he would have to wait for her to grow up in order to start married life. Spock had mentioned that the two older foster sisters had already agreed to be bonded to older men (both were from families who bonded their children when they were seven) with the stipulation that they be allowed to finish the human equivalet of high school first. Four-year old T'Lyr was from a family that did not bond children, and Sarek and T'Pyra had debated whether or not they should find a mate for her among the many men who sought her,. They finally decided to find a boy her own age and let the two bond when they were both seven. This meant that two men and one future seven year-old would have wives, but if the older men went into _pon farr_ before that time, they would have to resort to some of the "unpalatable" methods Spock had alluded to, and Vulcans almost never spoke of publically. Still, it was a better option than having to wait until an infant became of age, which is what many men were finding they were going to have to do if they wanted Vulcan mates.

Skarret, however, was apparently thinking outside the box.

"Skarret- my cousin does not know the ways of Vulcans- she may be only interested in becoming friends with you."

"I understand that, sister. But Father's first wife was a human woman, and Elder Brother is half human- all the people in the colony know that he helped save the members of the High Council. And now you are to be my new sister, and I do not find you to be an irrational being at all. You are different, but that is to be commended, not feared. I must conclude that those Vulcans who are dismissive of humans are behaving illogically." And then he added, "And your cousin is very visually appealing."

Great, she thought- a Vulcan Jim Kirk. God have mercy on us all.

"Well, tomorrow you can write to her and tell her all about yourself and your studies. If nothing else, you may make a good friend."

"Thank you. I wish you goodnight and will see you in the morning." He turned and walked down the hall with what Uhura could swear was a spring in his step.

Later that night, Spock knocked on the door of her room (for the sake of the children, they had decided that they would spend the night in separate rooms until after they were officially married) to inform her that all was in place for the ceremony. He had contacted the Captain and McCoy, and both would be attending the ceremony, while a party of major proportions would be waiting for them as soon as they returned to the ship (some crew members had even decided to get it started tonight).

"I have some news of my own, my _emir_," she said, smiling.

"What is it?'

"I have apparently picked up the additional skill of matchmaking somewhere along the line- Skarret asked if I would introduce him to my cousin Rin, and I agreed. I linked them up via commlink, and they appear to have hit it off. They're going to be writing and calling each other."

Spock raised his famous eyebrow. "Is that wise, _amira_? Your cousin is not well-versed in the ways of our people, as you are."

Nyota sighed. "Yes, I know- and I told Skarret that too. I plan on contacting Rin tomorrow for a longer chat, just to fill her in and make sure she understands what she's getting into. And there's an advantage in that they're several light years apart. But wouldn't it be something if they were compatible?"

"In the even that occurs, I shall be forced to post a warning to all Vulcan males that human women related to the Uhura family should be viewed with extreme caution, and perhaps quarantined." Nyota laughed, and the corners of Spock's mouth turned upwards for just a second. Then, he reached out and stroked her cheek.

"Until tomorrow, _amira_." He kissed her. "Sleep well."

Until tomorrow, my _emir_." She held her future husband for one extra moment before he left the room

She brushed her hair, changed into Spock's tunic (still her favorite nightshirt), and turned out the lights.

Tomorrow, she thought... tomorrow she would be Spock's wife.

And he, the most amazing man she had ever met, would be Uhura's husband.

Tomorrow could not come fast enough.


End file.
